> We need answers here!!

The match between India and South Africa is over.
India recorded a historic victory and we have a huge hoopla again like always. Unfortunately who will ask the hard questions, except me

Who made this Indian team win?
5 guys stood out in this match. The names are
Sreesanth
Ganguly
Laxman
Zaheer
Kumble

Lets get the official positions on them from the "management"
Sreesanth - Not a good baller yet. So much so that he sat out in the champions trophy
Sourav - attitutde, mental, political probs. Shame on Indian cricket if gurujee's words are to be taken.
Laxman - He is unfit for anything.(said the exact words in press meet)
Zaheer - attitude problem. Bad influence on team.
Kumble - too old fellow.

Unfortunately all of them were not in the good books of this management. The people who were: Jaffer, Sachin, Dravid himself failed pretty badly.
There will be an obvious argument that these guys were dropped and then they performed. I have no prob with that but they weren't dropped, they were thrown out rather unceremoniously. And if gurujee was left to himself, none would have made a comeback. Its no secret that Guru Greg strongly protested inclusion of both Sourav and Zaheer in the squad. Unfortunately, if he had equally well campaigned for the exclusion of jaffer, Sehwag and some other overheads in the team, he would have retained his credibility.

Unfortunately with such people at the helm, you won't enjoy success for long. All people work together to win, and if thats to happen all the time you need all people working without egos and working for team which unfortunately doesn't look like its going to happen. Till such time, we might win once in a while, the victories will remain a fluke or individual brilliances once in a while making the team win.

Sreesanth - Agreed .... his performance was excellent in this match but that still doesn't mean that he is the best bowler of India. Just have a look at his past record ..... u need to be consistent enough to play for team India. Now that he has made a solid comeback , its good for him and the team but that still doesn't mean that his place in the team is guaranteed just on the basis of 1 performance.


Ganguly - This is his first match after 8-10 months and yes he has performed well but still that does not mean that dropping him from the side 8 months ago was a bad decision ..... given his performance at that time both as a batsmen n captain ....he deserevd wat was coming to him.


Laxman - Laxman was never dropped from the test squad. He is and always remain a vital part of the Test team. As for considering him unfit for the ODI team..... yes even i share a similar opinion. According to me everybody's place in the ODI squad should be based on pure merit .... if u r not performing ... u have no right to be in the side and unfortunately for laxman he was not performing very well when he was dropped.


Zaheer - Again i would say the same thing .... just because he has started performing these days doesn't mean that it was not justified to drop him earlier. When he was dropped from the side , his form was even worse then pathan.

Kumble - We dont have an option. If we play 3 seamers , we have place only for one spinner .... and both bajji and kumble are excellent. And since bhajji iz young n also usefull with the bat, i think its a correct decision to go with him in the ODI's

thats all i can think of rite now ......have to go... will be back later to comment further

As good as the reasons above are, i have only one question to all the above..
there re guys who are performing even worse than these guys were when they were dropped and they still are the regulars in the team.
As i said, its not about why drop them, its about why not drop all on the same yardsticks.
If you don't follow the same rules for everyone, questions like these will always be raised.

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Especially by the 'Moral Police' AKA 'Safin'

Jaffer - He was picked up coz of his past record in the tests , which was excellent btw. Yes he has not performed in this series and i m 99.99% sure that he will be dropped in the next match making way for gambhir or pathan.


Shewag - Seriously it amazes me .... what the hell is he doing still in the team ? He should have been given the gangully treatment much before. The 2 test matches left are his only chance to prove himself otherwise he can kiss international cricket goodbye.


Sachin - Com'on now he is not that bad. How can u even think of dropping a player of such stature ? He is the best and the most senior player of the team ....dropping him will not only result in a more unexperienced side but will also greatly affect the morale of the team. Moreover a player like sachin does not need time to bring his form back ..... he can click in any match and when he clicks , u know he will single handedly win the match for u.


Dravid - Yes he is not in a best of form but still india cannot do without the wall. He has remained consistent for years now .... infact he is considered one of the most consistent batsmen of the world. Moreover i am quite impressed with his captaincy. So far he is doing a fine job , maybe he is not as good as dada but he is not that bad either.

So in the end , I would say apart from shewag everybody else deserves a place in the team. Infact i think the selectors should pick the team according to the current form of the players but that does not mean u drop quality experienced players like sachin and dravid , yes current form and consistency is important but equally important is an experienced side

I agree that many should be thrown out.

But Dravid has been doing pretty well. Except in the very last series (ths ODIs). Sachin did OK.
AND when Ganguly et al did miserable and were thrown out, they were losers among a winning team (the Indian team was doing good then). At the current moment, Sehwag is a loser in a losing team (forget the most recent test win).

And Zaheer was thrown out because he and Nehra used to get injured, take off for a few matches, come back "fit" and then promptly get injured again. Thanks to them, there was no chance for stability in the team, and when they used to get injured (repeatedly) in the middle of the match, the team's propsects were hurt.

Two Words.....
Match Fixing

@bluffy, i was talking about ODI series also.

Sourav's record btw was not that bad as record of players that are playing now(ODI and tests both)


About the injury part, well people are getting fat in the team also without no one noticing. Again issue is not the sacking but selective sacking.

@Dip useless comment as always. you have been exposed today so no need to put on a brave face

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^ Arre, i don't want to burst your 'I worship only Dada' bubble + looks like you had a really bad day after they gave away the 'Man of the Match' to Sreesanth + my top 3 list hurt you.

So i would leave this thread in peace

Btw, Bluffy and KK have made valid points